Tec- It Project Manager Iii-Iv (26-02)

JOB DESCRIPTION: The Texas Ethics Commission’s mission is to promote public confidence in in government. One of the ways it does that is by providing the public with access to campaign finance, lobby, and personal financial disclosures made by state officials. The Commission developed a custom filing system and database that allows filers to easily disclose the information required by law and for the public to access it. The filing system is continuously updated with several enhancement projects currently in progress.

We need a strategic thinker who can work with Commission leadership to map the future of technological needs for the commission, but who can also track the details of specific projects to ensure they are completed on time and in budget.

The Commission is hiring an experienced IT Project Manager to coordinate with the Commission’s vendors and leadership to ensure software development and other technology projects are completed within scope, with high quality, and on time. The Project Manager will coordinate the planning and initiation of projects at various levels of completion; monitor the progress and schedule of projects; and communicate with project stakeholders, management, and other relevant parties, and may assign duties and responsibilities and coordinate the work of project staff.

This role involves managing IT projects and contracts, coordinating project activities, managing resources, and ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope and within budget.

May assign and supervise the work of others. Works under minimal supervision with considerable latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. Classification and salary are based on experience.

SPECIFIC JOB FUNCTIONS:

Essential Job Functions:

• Create and /or coordinate the creation of project plans. Current projects include software updates to automate processing requests of filers to reduce or waive civil penalties for late reports, automate notices for late reports, automate tracking of missing or late reports, allow for online payments of civil penalties for late or missing reports.
• Run weekly progress meeting with vendor.
• Track budget on several open projects.
• Track compliance with NIST for cybersecurity for the filing system in the AWS public cloud.
• Troubleshoot and develop workarounds.
• Define scopes, objectives, deliverables and timelines using project management tools.
• Effectively lead cross-functional projects.
• Assign tasks, monitor progress, and provide guidance to ensure deliverables are completed

on time and within scope, timeline and budget.

• Provide weekly status reports and updated project schedules to leadership.
• Document and coordinate project tasks with key stakeholders to ensure timelines are met on time and within scope.
• Facilitate meetings and discussions with internal and external stakeholders to document

statements of work, project charters, business and functional requirements, procedures and

workflows, acceptance criteria, test plans, and risk assessment plans for all assigned projects in

accordance with project schedules.

• Regularly review the risk log with internal stakeholders and external vendors to effectively

quantify and manage and identify project risks and difficulties in accordance with the strategies

document and update the risks log with new risks or changes.

• Design strategies to mitigate or avoid project risks and difficulties.
• Ensure project deliverables meet quality standards and align with defined requirements before

completion or delivery.

• Coordinate the service request life cycle through customer-related service request responses, business requirements coordination, technical specification and related artifacts review, and monitor system integration and user acceptance testing prior to implementation.
• Perform Quality Assurance (QA) by ensuring comprehensive and cohesive plans and documents are in place for validation, triage processes, regression testing, acceptance approval, migration stability, and production support.
• Escalate issues to the PMO Manager with supporting information and several options (with pros and cons) to correct or mitigate the situation/s as well as recommended option.
• Develop the design and review of test cases; process change requests; and manage a project’s scope, acceptance, installation and deployment.
• Conduct state gate reviews at end of each major phase of the project/s, ensures decisions, signoffs and approvals are documented, assess go/no-go decisions, and ensure lessons learned or retrospectives are conducted at the end of each phase.
• Identify points of task/project failures and determine what could have been done differently.
• Provide reports for the PMO Manager.
• Ensure QA and defect management processes are well defined including specifics related to smoke, regression, integration and user acceptance testing.
• Support workflow processes for change management with the PMO manager.
• Facilitate discussions among cross functional teams of internal and external stakeholders.
• Identify areas of opportunity in the Project Management process and throughout the agency to ensure a culture of continuous improvement.
• Ensure change requests for new or added requirements comply with the procedures and the required documentation is provided in a timely manner.
• Coordinate all new change requests with PMO Manager to ensure they are entered correctly and are prioritized accordingly.
• Facilitate business process workarounds for functions that are postponed or descoped and ensure these are well documented and accepted by the divisions impacted.
• Identify opportunities for improving business processes through automation and assist in the preparation of proposals to develop new systems.
• Ensure all required integration points with external service vendors and other state agencies are part of the project plan and timely communication with these service providers as well as scheduled testing is in place.
• Develop training curriculum and conduct formal training sessions covering assigned systems modules and ensure that a migration plan is in place for deployment to production and includes processes to support the maintenance Service Level Agreement.
• Perform related work as assigned.

WORK EXPECTATIONS:

Must be able to:

• Regularly, reliably, and punctually attend work.
• Responsibly handle sensitive and highly confidential information and situations.
• Work extended hours as necessary.
• Travel occasionally for work assignments and training.
• Show flexibility and adaptability toward changes in assignments and work schedules.
• Adhere to the agency’s internal management policies and procedures.
• Exhibit work behaviors consistent with agency core values.

Telework and flexible schedule available, subject to agency needs.

RELATED MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY CODES:

Veterans, Reservists, or Guardsmen with a MOS or additional duties that fall in the fields of 8848 Information Systems Manager; 1D7X1 Cyber Systems Operations; 63Ax Acquisition Manger; 63A Acquisition Manger or other related fields pertaining to the minimum experience requirement may meet the minimum qualifications for this position and are encouraged to apply. Additional Military Crosswalk information can be accessed at https://hr.sao.texas.gov/Compensation/MilitaryCrosswalk/MOSC_ProgramManagement.pdf

E-VERIFY:

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization.

MINIMUM EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in business administration, computer science, management information system, or a related field.
• A minimum of four years of full-time project management work experience in business and/or system analysis work.
• Experience and education may be substituted for one another on a year per year basis.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 5+ Years in Project Management.
• 5+ Years in a Business Analyst or Advanced System Administrator Position
• 5+ Years Eliciting Requirements.
• 5+ Years in User Acceptance testing and Implementation.
• 5+ Years in Process Workflow Analytics

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of software development life cycle and systems development life cycle concepts; business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, leadership techniques, production methods, and coordination of people and resources; and project management principles and practices.
• Skills in business analysis methodologies; in analyzing and evaluating complex information technology programs, policies, and issues: and in developing creative and workable solutions to complex problems and issues.
• Ability to analyze and interpret technical information including regulations, policies, and automation system documentation/specification; to communicate in writing; to translate user/business needs into a technical style; to communicate technical instruction to system users; to analyze, evaluate and integrate business rules into system requirements; to exercise sound judgment in making critical decisions; to communicate effectively, and to assign and/or supervise the work of others.
• Ability to multi-task and work independently under moderate supervision.
• Ability to establish and maintain harmonious working relationships with co-workers, agency staff, and external contacts.
• Ability to work effectively in a professional team environment.
• Strong public speaking skills.
• SQL programing and experience using a PostgreSQL database.
• Atlassian JIRA.
• Knowledge of AWS hosting.
• Understanding database architecture and structure design.
• Knowledge of UAT protocols and regression testing after deployment.

REGISTRATION, CERTIFICATION, OR LICENSURE:

Certification as a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) or Project Management Professional (PMP) preferred.